Carnival Victory AGAIN: CoCo Cay (Little Stirrup Cay) Part 2

After a couple hours out there I finally made it back to my dear boyfriend who had found a lounger under a nice palm. Once I returned, we took a walk to the closest bar and went back to relax. It was about 85* so I managed to reapply sun screen plenty but it didn't help. I was out in the reflective water for too long and managed to get a free sunburn souvenir! It wasn't bothering me so we took a walk to where lunch was being served.

They offered a BBQ lunch for free as they do on Carnivals private islands, Half Moon Cay. You were able to use your sail and sign card at the bar but the drinks were WAYYYYY more expensive than on shore. I am sure that it costs them an arm & a leg to rent out the island and that is the reasoning for the extra cost. I was disappointed that they didn't offer my mocha chocolate getaway that I had been drinking all week but they only were serving generic Daiquiris & mixed drinks.

We decided to eat lunch at a shaded picnic table and then went exploring. They offered a walking tour of the island as an excursion. They had someone explaining about the low tide, animals & plants. We decided to just walk the trail by ourselves but I am sure the tour was nice. We got to see a lot of iguanas and small lizards as well as seeing where the people who take care of the island lived. It was getting kind of hot so we slipped our feet in the water for a bit more before walking to the beach closer to where we entered the island. The area was crowded and there was a lot of music playing but people seemed to be having a good time. A lot of people were playing out in the water. They had one of those inflatable water parks as well as some seadoo rentals and different snorkeling activities.

We stayed there for quite some time enjoying our last bit of time on the island. We stopped by the cash only market to do some shopping from locals who came by boat to sell their goods. After that we hopped on a tender and then headed back to the boat.

We would definitely like to come back to CoCo Cay again as well like to  try some other private islands. It is a relaxing day in port for sure! Have you ever been to a cruise line private island? Which one? What did you like about it?

Carnival Victory AGAIN: CoCo Cay (Little Stirrup Cay) Part 1

Friday February 7: 7-5

Let me first clear up what some people may find confusing: Why does this island go by two names? Little Stirrup Cay is the name that appears on their itineraries. However, they rent this private island from Royal Caribbean. RCI calls this island CoCo Cay. It appears they rent this island occasionally through out the winter season to Carnival and possibly other lines on days when it is not needed.

The island is gorgeous, the water is amazing and its "wildlife" can be entertaining. This was our first time at a cruise line private island and we LOVE the private island life. We were up early again this port day and were greeted with another beautiful sunrise. As with most or all private islands, there isn't a normal dock so you take a small tender boat to shore. They got started rather early this morning, with a tender dedicated to the crew & materials needed to take onshore along with a passenger tender.

                                                  A MSC ship was in port at the private island next to CoCo Cay

We also had never taken a tender boat on any of our previous stops so I was interested in the process. Since we had purchased FTTF we were able to for go the lines and be directed to the front. We didn't need to use that feature since there were so few people getting off so early. Later in the day, if you do not have FTTF, you would go and get a numbered tender ticket which let you know what tender you would be going on. They had you wait in the Caribbean lounge until your number was called. I am sure this is a tedious process and am glad we didn't need to go through this.

                                           The tender in the back was the crew only tender taking supplies on shore.

The tender ride was only about 15 minutes or so and then we were off for our first taste of a Bahamian private island. We walked along to the right as we were headed to Barefoot Beach. I did my research and heard that this was the place to be. It was further than most people wanted to walk and therefore a lot more serene that the first beach you come to. There were bars here and there that we passed along the way as well as some lively roosters, chickens and chicks and an iguana hanging out in a tree.

Walking past a bar and some lovely hammocks in the shade, we finally made it to our destination. Let me tell you, the view from Barefoot Beach is AMAZING. I have never seen anything like it. The water here was in low tide so there were people walking hundreds of yards out (I would soon join them.) The many palm trees here made it a perfect shady spot on the beach and the quietness of it all added to the paradise.

I followed the "trail" out about 200 yards to what looked to be deeper water. Once out there, the deeper part was actually just a lot of sea grass that made it look deep and dark. The water here varied, never going higher than mid thigh on me and it was the perfect temperature. Here I explored, finding a couple of conchs, sea snails and some sea urchins. There were plenty of types of fish swimming here and there and many people found star fish. There were some barracudas off to the side and the snorklers & kayaks close by saw some sharks! I later was able to swim with a small ray right off shore.

                                                                  People walking out along the shallow trail

Another conch I found along the way

                                                                                                Sea Urchin

Carnival Victory AGAIN: We're back

Sad to say we are back from our latest cruise. We took yesterday and today to re-charge before having to go back to work tomorrow :( We had a great time on the Victory again, she is definitely our favorite ship of the three we have sailed.  Grand Turk has been added to our favorite ports. Little Stirrup Cay was also an amazing stop, we really enjoyed the "private island" aspect. I will be working on my review and getting all my pics loaded for you all this week.

Single Digit Dance

Hi:) Shield your eyes! Its time for another embarrassing shimee!! Its me, doing the single digit dance. We leave in 9 days WAHOOOOOOO. I feel like I have SO much to do this week. I haven't started to pack or anything so I will get some of that accomplished tomorrow. I work all week and then it is just a couple days until we fly out to Miami. So far it just looks like rain coming our way. Fingers crossed for good weather!!

Just a little recap of our upcoming itinerary:

Monday Feb 3 Miami- depart 4 pm
Tuesday Day at Sea
Wednesday Grand Turk 7-5
Thursday Day at Sea
Friday Little Stirrup Cay/ Coco Cay 7-5
Saturday Miami 8 am


We cancelled our planned excursion in GT so both days will be relaxing days at the beach. Can not wait!!!!

A cruise with no excursions???

We have decided to cancel our horse back riding excursion. Although my BF was originally interested when we looked at it in the Bahamas, he has now lost interest and it certainly isnt on my top things to do right now. We have decided to do 0 excursions. We are simply going to lounge around on the beach, visit Jacks Shack and have a great relaxing time in Grand Turk. In CoCo Cay we also plan to do nada!! I am interested to see if this is as perfect as it sounds or if we will get bored. Although, with this cold winter weather, laying on a lounger in the Caribbean with a Miami Vice sounds amazingggggg.

Have you ever gone on a vacation and not done any sort of excursion? Let me know how your experience was!

Carnival Victory: 30 days til we sail

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Now that the new year has begun, we are 30 days out from being in the warm Caribbean sun. I can check our airfare off my list of things to do before we are ready to go.

We are flying in to Miami day of the cruise as usual, arriving in Miami around 8 am. This is the same AA flight we took for our cruise on the Destiny and it is great to be one of the first flights out. We are hoping for no winter weather shenanigans on the day we leave but we will monitor the weather closely. Worst case we move our flights to Saturday from Monday and get to enjoy a couple days pre cruise in South Beach!

We are also flying out day of and I will admit I am a tad bit nervous.... our flight leaves Miami at 11:05 EEK! We have bought FTTF so we have priority disembarkation which makes me feel a little better. Carnivals recommendation for flights out of Miami is 11:30-12 butttttt we had zippy options. We couldnt stay an additional day in SOBE and I DO NOT do layovers. So we could either take the 11:05 flight, an 11:40 flight, or a 9:00 pm flight. Decisions, decisions. We considered staying until the 9 pm flight doing some touristy stuff around finding somewhere to store our luggage(FYI MIA has lockers where you can do such). Why didnt we give ourselves a smidgen more wiggle room and book the 11:40 flight you ask??

OH EM GEE I have never ever seen flights to Miami be so expensive from our neck of the woods. The last time we went, we flew down on Thanksgiving and came back the following Tuesday paying $175pp roundtrip. The 11:40 flight alone was $280 and rising. Again, OH EM GEE! CRAZYNESS. So the extra 35 minutes might save my stress levels that day but there was nooooo way I would pay that. We have watched the flights since we booked and they havent gone down at all. Even our booked flights totaled $250 pp.

Hopefully the weather is in our favor and customs doesnt decide they want to crucially inspect our boat. Fingers crossed. My to do list is getting shorter and shorter with me really just needing to figure out what we want to pack. This will be the first time that we arent doing just a carry on each thanks to the lovely luggage I received for christmas! It will be nice to be able to pack everything we want. Oh boy I can see myself overpacking all ready :)

Carnival Victory: Final Payment Dance

Excuse me while I do my final payment dance! You can look away if you want, it is slightly embarrassing! I always love when I make my final payment, it means that I am thaaaaaat much closer to taking my cruise! With the holidays coming up it will make it go by that much quicker as well. WAHOO!

Now we just have to book our airfare. Rates have stayed exactly the same since we started looking. It is a little more than we usually pay to go to Florida but it is still very reasonable. I am going to reach out to a horse back riding company in Grand Turk to see if we can get that all squared away and then we will be good to go! Cant wait to sail away with a Drink of the Day!

Carnival Victory: Planning process

Hey fellow cruisers!! As we have crept on 70 days until we set sail we are diving into the planning process! Final payment is closely approaching and although we are happy with the price we paid I am sure a lot of people are eagerly hoping they get a price drop. Since the rate we booked at included OBC (On Board Credit), the price drop would have to be pretty significant for us to scoop it up but we would consider upgrading to a balcony if the price was right ;)

We have been doing a little research here and there in regards to excursions but this will probably be a no frills type of vacation. We really just want to take a relaxing break and hang out on the beach in February while everyone we know is freezing their tails off; yes we will be sending some braggy photos to them!

One thing we do want to try to get in is horse back riding on the beach. I am a little iffy about it but I get to do a lot of the planning for our trips so if my boyfriend comes up with an idea I try to incorporate it. We originally looked into doing this in the Bahamas for our cruise on the Glory but got no response from the tour operator :(

Carnival does offer a horseback riding excursion in Grand Turk but it is about the same cost as doing it through a private company. I feel we may get a better experience being one on one with a small group rather than being herded around on the ship excursion. It does make us feel better that if we book with Carnival the ship wont leave us behind but with us having such a long day here I am sure we will have no issues with timing. Decisions, decisions. Only time will tell.

We are definitely planning a beach day for our stop at Little Stirrup Cay. Just a nice, relaxing day drinking a Miami Vice or two and hanging out in a lounger.

Have you been to Grand Turk or Little Stirrup Cay (Coco Cay)? Ever been horseback riding on the beach? Let me know your thoughts!

Carnival Victory AGAIN

We booked another cruise !!! We are still interested in going to Bermuda for 2015  but since those schedules aren't out yet we decided to book a short cruise next February to hold me off :)
Carnival had a "National Cruise Vacation Month" sale with pretty good rates as well as offering on board credit so we jumped the gun. In addition to the great sale, we still had our 20% off a future cruise discount from our debacle during Hurricane Sandy last fall good for use on a 6 day or less cruise so we booked a 5 day from Miami.

There were 2 options we were looking at.
Option 1
Carnival Victory sailing from Miami 5 Days February
2 days at sea, 2 port days: Grand Turk , Little Stirrup Cay (Coco Cay)

OR

Carnival Sunshine (formerly the Destiny) sailing from Port Canaveral (Orlando) 5 days April
1 sea day, 3 port days: Nassau, Freeport, Key West

Ultimately the decision came down to the itinerary. The Sunshine is a completely new ship and all it has to offer is amazing BUT the itinerary is terrible. We LOVED Key West but probably wouldn't go back on a cruise. There is a lot to see and the area is 100% different that anywhere else in the US. It is slow paced and fun and there is A LOT of drinking going on. The Bahamas- I feel so so about. On our last cruise we were to call at Nassau & Freeport. Sandy came in and we were left with a couple of hours in Nassau. We had an awesome time at Atlantis but really there isn't much else to see. The vendors were also worse here than anywhere else we have been. From what I know, Freeport is the same deal. A couple of beaches and some shopping, not much else. Nassau is a frequent stop on most of Eastern Caribbean itineraries so I am sure we will go back eventually.

So with the Sunshine itinerary out of the question we ended up with Grand Turk and Little Stirrup Cay (pronounced Key). Grand Turk is the largest of the Turks & Caicos islands from what  I understand and the port area is great. The beach is right off the pier as is a large Margaritaville Party Pool Bar area. I'm sure we will be stopping here ;)


Now there is Little Stirrup Cay which I had seen on a couple of random itineraries. This intrigued me. Turns out that this is actually Coco Cay, one of Royal Caribbeans private islands, that they lease to Carnival sometimes. Having never been to one of the cruise lines private islands before I was excited!


I am also excited to be on the Victory again, we even got the same room! This ship may not have all the bells and whistles that newer or updated ships have but it will always be our first ship. I love it. The layout is great and the Panorama deck is a great location for our room to be.

And of course there is Miami- my favorite place to cruise from and I love South Beach. We aren't sure if we will do a pre or post cruise in Miami since this is a last minute trip, we have to have a last minute budget. 


LET THE PLANNING BEGIN! Interested in following our planning process? Subscribe to get all the latest posts to your email!

250 days !!!

250 days until we sail on the biggest cruise ship  in the world! We have never had to wait so long to cruise! The ship is a destination in its self so that's also going to take a lot of research. We don't want to miss a thing!

What do you do to pass the time between booking your cruise and embarkation day??

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Just booked Oasis of the Seas!!

I am very excited because we just booked our first cruise on Royal Carribean. After our first cruise I was all about Carnival and loved the service we received. Since then, it has been declining every cruise and we were interested in trying a different line. A few months back my boyfriend and I watched a special on the Oasis and we were amazed at how big she was and all that the ship had to offer.

We have been looking for a while but decided to go ahead and book. We choose a superior ocean view balcony stateroom. OUR FIRST BALCONY!! This class of ship (there is also the Allure of the Seas) offers Central Park view and boardwalk view balconies as well which look over those areas inside the ship. 

We are doing the December 14 Eastern Caribbean sailing to Nassau, St Thomas, & St. Maarten. Yes, places we have already been. However, we didnt get to experience much in those places so we are very excited to revisit these islands. I am not thrilled with the time in Nassau and we may consider staying on board that day to see everything the ship has to offer us, with hopefully shorter lines. 

Our itinerary is

December 14- Fort Lauderdale

December 15- Nassau 7-2

December 16- Day at sea

December 17- St. Thomas 10-7

December 18- St. Maarten 8-5

December 19- day at sea

December 20- day at sea

December 21- Fort Lauderdale

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Carnival Glory:Debarking & Final Thoughts

Hey Guys! I know it has been a while since this cruise but I wanted to finish up on this post.

We had our couple days at sea with rough weather, lots of rain, nothing but rocking and they announced that we would be coming home a day early. They said the port was closing sunday due to flood warnings and the next weeks cruise was canceled. Honestly, it was such a relief to hear. We were in the dining room when they made the announcement and everyone clapped. After dinner we roamed for quite a bit and then headed back to our room to pack and head to the disco. Debarking was pretty easy, we waited a while since we had driven to the port and then headed out.

A couple of things we learned from this cruise:

- Never ever take a cruise before it goes in to be refurbished, they were out of a lot of knick knack type souvenirs, the shop was pretty bare, they were short on some food, the crew seemed to be ready for a break and didnt seem to mind expressing that

-Although the weather made a huge impact, it was clearly evident that we do not like sea days. A transatlantic cruise has been removed from my bucket list for sure!

- I don't think we will ever ever cruise during hurricane season again- although we didn't get sick, our travel mates were quite sick and it was a very unpleasant experience. It seemed to make a lot of people agitated. The staff were great (except for the front desk people) so that was a real help.

- I am also not sure we will ever cruise with people we know again.  It is so nice to do whatever we want to do when we want and that makes it difficult when others want to do other things. Maybe it will be different with people who are seasoned cruisers, who knows.

Once we returned we were quickly refunded a days fare to the account used to purchase the cruise which was great. We were also given 20% off a future cruise to be used on a 2-6 day cruise which expires in October 2014. There are some destination exclusions but I am sure we will be able to find something to apply it to. We are hoping to use it towards a 7 day cruise, I have been in contact with Carnival so that we can try to work that out. I don't want all 7 days discounted, I would just like to have the 6 days of discount applied. Hopefully it works out, we prefer longer cruises.

Even before the weather we didnt get the same experience we received on previous cruises so we may try to branch out in the future and try a couple of different lines. Our first cruise was AMAZING and I am really wanting to have another great experience like that.


Sorry for the distance since the beginning of this post! Hope you enjoy!

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Carnival Glory : Fun Day at Sea 2 & 3

It started pouring when we got back to the port to do some shopping so we hurried through that and waited in line to re board, in the freezing cold rain. We went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner.  When we were in the dining room this evening, the ship suddenly moved pretty hard and a lot of dishes went tumbling. I believe the ship was turning but it was a shocker!

We were scheduled to visit Port Canaveral on Friday. They ended up announcing that our stop in PC was cancelled and we would remain at sea for the rest of our trip. Although I wasnt thrilled about a stop in PC, anything would have been better than being on a rocking rolling boat for 3 days in a row.

We were bound to make the best of the vaca so we spent our days at sea sleeping in, eating tons of good food and hanging out in the hot tubs. There were a lot of scheduled events that were cancelled due to the Lido being shut down.  It was open to walk across but the wind and wet floor made it quite dangerous. I slipped right onto my tush one night so for the most part we just went down a floor and up in the middle to the buffet. 

They offered some inside activities but mostly kept them in the tiny promenade area of the casino where there is little room. The casino was a good time, although I do not like to spend much so $10 and I am done.

Most of our time at night is spent in the disco. We usually just people watch but this time we did get up and dance and had a ball! The boat was rocking and rolling so people were going everywhere at some points. I will say that they could do a better job of the music selection. It seemed to be more of music from 10 or so years ago opposed to current. They also could make it more dance music. Some of the stuff you just can not dance to. It should be a clue when everyone walks off the dance floor but it happened every night.


They had two comedians on board this trip, the one we saw was Jorge Solano. We chose the adults show and it was very funny. He works with George Lopez and has been doing comedy for 20+ years.

Something else we had never done before this trip was the mini martini tasting. It is $18 for you to choose 4 out of 8 martinis. They come in 2 oz glasses each so it was a pretty good amount of alcohol.  The martini bar always seemed to have a lot of people there and the bartender was great. 

Carnival Glory: ATLANTIS Overview

The property is absolutely beautiful and we would love to go back. I would love for it to be easier to find things but all the staff members that we asked for directions were very friendly and helpful. The check in process was really simple but I am not a fan of their $150/day hold for 31 days. I think that is a bit much but they are currently bank owned so maybe they are who put that in place.  I read a lot about the lack of care the animals/ tanks/ exhibits received and we saw no evidence of that. I will say that the beach was pretty dirty, we saw a lot of cups (clean up your trash people!)

Carnival Glory: ATLANTIS "The Digs" CONT'D 3

Carnival Glory: ATLANTIS "The Digs" CONT'D 2